Scene and Heard: Stand Up Guys’ Al Pacino picks Oscar favourites

Al Pacino’s usually not an Oscar prognosticator. But he couldn’t help himself during a recent Beverly Hills hotel interview promoting Stand Up Guys, which opens Feb. 1.

In the movie, Pacino plays an aging hitman opposite Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin, who co-star in the crime comedy.

Arkin, of course, is nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for his Argo part and just might win it when the Academy Awards are handed out at the really big show Feb. 24.

Pacino, an 8-time Oscar nominee, had high praise for his Stand Up Guys co-star. And, he offered some thoughts on a few other nominees, as well.

“Look at someone like Bob DeNiro,” said Pacino of his co-star in Heat who is nominated in the supporting actor category for his Silver Linings Playbook role.

“There’s a guy whose done such great stuff. He’s a great artist, and this is a man who reinvented himself midway through his career.”

DeNiro went from memorable dramatic parts in Taxi Driver and the second Godfather to comedy portrayals in the Analyze This and That films and the Meet the Parents and Fockers hits.

“Most of the people who go see his movies these days don’t remember him in his great tragedies,” Pacino said. “They see him as a great comic, so to me I’m very inspired by that. Now he’s done such a beautiful job in ‘Silver Linings’.”

“What impressed me about her in Zero Dark Thirty, as I watched her, was she looked like she was going to be capable of doing many parts,” Pacino said.

“She’ll run the scale and she’s doing what she’s meant to do. That’s her thing. You can see it in the way she presents herself. Acting is in her DNA.”

Joaquin Phoenix, nominated as best actor in The Master, also received a good review for his in-the-moment ability.

“I thought this kid Phoenix did a beautiful job there,” said Pacino. “He did it within his frame because he has a lot of experience doing it. I’d love to see him do theatre.”
bthompson@postmedia.com
blog: Canada.com/sceneandheard

I am the Postmedia News movie writer and canada.com columnist. I prepare features and profiles stars of major motion pictures, including Robert Downey Jr., George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts... read more. Previously, I was a movie writer for Postmedia's National Post. I was at the George Lucas farm near San Francisco to report on the last Star Wars picture, Revenge of the Sith. I was in New York for the first preview of Peter Jackson's King Kong remake. And I have been up close and personal with high profile A-listers such as Cameron Diaz, Matt Damon, Jennifer Aniston and many others. Before that, I was a sleep-deprived pop music writer and critic, a film writer and reviewer, and entertainment editor at the Toronto Sun. I also worked at CBC as a writer and producer, and was one of five writers selected to produce the script for the CBC's Canada For Asia live tsunami benefit broadcast in 2005.View author's profile